BART trains in the Bay Area often travel for miles between stops — the quirky way the system was planned and built. Now a new station has been built at West Dublin and Pleasanton — the rare new station along an existing line. Writer Yonah Freemark would like to see more new stations along the BART, saying it would help boost ridership and promote infill development.

The big one for our readers is probably this: it would take away the $20 million needed to secure a $546-million federal loan to accelerate construction of the Crenhsaw/LAX light rail line. The cuts were part of the spending bill passed by the House of Representatives over the weekend and which would cover federal spending this year until Oct. 1. Of course, the Senate still needs to approve the bill — and they probably won’t — and President Obama has already threatened to veto it.

The agency has asked for a study of a rail link between downtown Chicago and the airport, both of which are major employment centers. Such a line would also connect with the planned high-speed rail line between Chicago and St. Louis. I don’t believe Amtrak serves any major international airports in the U.S. — although Amtrak does stop at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.

The problem with Amtrak connections to airports is the abysmal on-time record of trains means assurance you’ll catch a flight on time is pretty low. I tried taking Amtrak from Union Station to BUR airport once, but when the two hour train delay was announced (approximately 2 hours before my flight), I had to run outside and catch an expensive cab instead.